carolineg

The Craig scenes with Marlena today were interesting-not in actual dialogue, but Craig's demeanor. Last I remember Craig/Marlena were friends. Is the show leaning towards making Craig a villian again? That's where I think this should go and I do see Leo/Craig cooking up schemes all over town like people suggested. I don't know if I want to see them up against Sonny/Will (because Craig feels way too old for that), but I feel like Craig is so obnoxious right now I'd rather he just become a villian. Days also does the most awkward scenes. Why were Chloe/Brady in bed naked talking to Leo for so long. That's weird. No one does that.

That's fair lol. GH did that Days thing where they want to just keep a character/actor and just extend their stories beyond the character's clear shelf life. Nelle embodies this as did Peter lol. The Nelle stuff reminds me of Sam's past life where she married and conned about 7 different men, but arrived in PC at about 24 years old. It will never line up.

Agree with that. I still don't understand the Nelle/Carly/Jax/kidney situation lol. For me personally they just feel like very similar types of villians and it hasn't been long enough since Nelle disappeared for me to get excited about Esme.

I can't get over Esme being Nelle lite basically. I know their schemes are different and the show is even acknowledging it, but both actresses look similar and have the same energy. I think AP is good. It's just the fact that they are basically the same type of villian.

Well, the devil was interested in MarDevil having sex with John back in the day, but that was to corrupt him. So maybe if the show wanted JoDevil to have sex with Gabi to ensure another Devil baby in case it would make sense. None of this is good, but there is a precedent of the Devil wanting to have sex with mortals if it suits their purpose enough. I don't even know why I am defending this lol. I don't mind the jumping to different people, but the story obviously works better with one person (Marlena), one hero (John), and a clear agenda. I have no idea what the devil wants here-it keeps changing.

That makes sense. I just think GH sits on an embarrassment of riches as far as cast and does nothing. No beats are played, no reveals are good, and everything just fizzles out. Unlike Days where the ideas are batshit, GH has a lot of good ideas-they just never workout the way they should. I have no idea why Ava/Carly/Nina/Liz/Sam are all friendly. Carly and Sam chitchatting about Carly's marriage was bizarre. And when Carly explained she caught Nina in bed with Sonny the show didn't make the obvious correlation to the same thing happening with Sam/Sonny lol. I don't think I would have liked that because Dustin was such a non-entity of a character, but at least it would be something interesting.

I would love Joss to have some rich bitch characteristics. She's the most boring parts of Carly and Jax. I always thought Joss should be a bit of a schemer like her mother and she can always grow out of that like Brenda and Liz did. I don't understand why they haven't brought Lila Rae, Alec Barrett, or Emma back. I do think they are waiting on the OGEmma actress to be older tbh. Alec and Lila Rae would be fairly easy to bring back even sans their mothers (although it would be stupid not to bring VM and RC back). Alec/Lila Rae could both be staying at the Quartermaines for the summer or something and fall in love with each other and it could be drama. I still think it would be cool if Alec was gay, but it would probably fall more in line with the show to pair him with Joss/Lila Rae for the mother catfights. I don't understand why the teen set/Frank/the network doesn't take any risks with them. They don't act like teens at all. I am glad they didn't do the teenage pregnancy route with any of them, but the Joss/Oscar stuff is what really set the tone for this group to be lame and deal with really heavy adult problems. That story easily could have been tweaked to make Oscar Alec instead and might have been poignant with Brenda/Carly/Sonny dealing with that as well with the Stone stuff coming full circle. If Frank would have went there, even if it was a bit shoddily done, the story would have been remembered and probably set those teens up much better for the future.

I think part of my problem is none of this teen set has ever really gelled for me. I think Chavez and SM were the standouts and Lipton can do good work. Obviously the main problem was building this set around Joss/EM, who at her best is blandly adequate. Chavez is someone I could see being a lead for years (but I doubt he will stay that long), but no one has given me the star power KMc, JJ, AT, VM, SBu, RH, TC etc did from the jump. That's probably more on GH than the actors, but the teen set has had either extremely adult stories or really chaste ones. Even this sex tape isn't the scandal it should be.

Yeah I get it. SM definitely was charismatic and likable. I prefer Trina to most all the other teens and her and Chavez had chemistry. I am not trying to knock her really. I just don't think she's a Jonathan Jackson level find lol and I have no problem with her being recast. I'd rather that than Trina disappear. I guess my overall point was I think TA is decent and will only get better. I don't feel like I have seen enough of her yet to make a really solid judgement.

I think the recast has been good. TA seems capable and I think it will work out. Obviously, I need to see more of her and time will tell. Tbh, SM as Trina never set the world on fire for me though. I thought she was good, but I didn't think she was the find some people did on here. My hope would be Trina's story moves more coherently now that they have an actress that is available full time.

The Tony/Renee stuff is uncomfortable to watch as a viewer. Not only is it awful, but I don't want to see LG as Sarenee hit on 70 plus Tony. Eeeewww. Does Chloe have a house? It's weird her and Brady were getting it on at John/Marlena's house. I know Brady lives there and they wouldn't care, but it would break the mood for me lol. I am going to agree with you and say I didn't mind the Chad/Leo stuff. Leo has always been portrayed as intelligent, so we all knew he wasn't going to fall for this, but it was at least entertaining. I actually like Abby better because she let's Chad do this. Abby can be a bore. At least we know now she supports wacky shenanigans and has a sense of humor. It a shame Gwen and Xander are so dull. I thought both characters were good when they were introduced and had potential and Days managed to squander it completely.

I think this might just be the story that wins Dee her long deserved Emmy 🤣

As long as Marlena has a near death/heaven experience (natch for Marlena) and she sees her twin Sam before she decides if she's going to other side! All the roles for Deidre lol.

I am assuming Ron probably hasn't heard about the Marlena clones that Stefano sent out during the Possession story yet. That could be next.

They made me laugh too. I still don't think Leo is dumb enough to fall for it, but I liked those scenes. Am I the only one that thinks Craig is a better choice for chief of staff? Kayla's not very good anyhow. Ava did make a chuckle a bit too. Her disdain of Nicole/Rafe makes me like her more.

I think I have an okay tolerance to pagodas. Not sure. What I read about it makes it sound interesting and maybe the first sign John wasn't Roman, but your explanation just makes it sound messy. Not sure why they dropped Stefano. I believe I read Deidre Hall was in serious talks to come back at the time and it fell through and that's why the show was introducing clues that Marlena was alive. Maybe when DH decided not to come back, the whole thing just ended up getting scrapped and Stefano's story was done. A lot of the RoJohn/Diana stuff seems to change tone as well from what little I have seen after that. But then again, even 80's Diana wasn't a very fleshed out character.

I have never seen the full pagoda story. Is it worth watching? Roman seems like a much more logical choice on this than Shane. Is it the same story were they hinted Marlena was alive? Because at least in 1991 there was a strong thread that Stefano had Marlena even if Orpheus wasn't explained. Agree 100% about your thoughts on the John imploding/suicidal stuff. It was good and I wished they explored it more. It felt like everything was cut short about that and it was more Isabella/Romulus jewel thief focused. I wish there was more fall out with the children-Carrie wasn't even on canvas. And making Isabella pregnant almost seemed like too much? A lot was going on and the show knew Wayne was coming back. It seemed like an unnecessary complication that was much less interesting than the psychological aspects that could have played out. I remember seeing the 1988 clips and thinking that was silly because it didn't even make historical sense lol. To me, there is also a lot of Pawn/John/Victor stuff that wasn't explained in 1991 as well.

This story and LG are so awful in it I almost feel bad for her. She has to know everyone hates it and LG seems like a nice person. I have never thought she was a master thespian or anything, but it has to be difficult to get into character when the description is character that's been dead for 40 years and in love with Tony Dimera lol. I rag on her as much as anyone else and LG could do actual research on the character, but I would love to know her reaction the day she found out she had to play that.

Outside of the Marlena issue which was never resolved, Kristen wasn't a good character introduction. Her devotion to Stefano and marriage to Tony was creepy. IMO, their differences were more than obstacles-they were complete non-starters lol. She never believed John about anything from Day one. The entire town was telling her Stefano brainwashed John and tortured him, but Kristen ignored that until John walked out of Maison Blanche in literal shackles. But it's easy to say that looking back knowing how the story ends. I think there was a mention in 1991 that Marlena either saw the real Roman or almost did, but it was after Stefano had her. I didn't realize John was really Forrest Alamain. I thought the Yo-Ling stuff negated that, but you explained it much better than I remembered it. Thanks! Obviously at this point you just wish Real Roman never came back lol.

Yes, but the coffin was empty and Stefano kidnapped Forrest/John as a child, but I am not sure why. I still don't know if we ever found out if the real Forrest Alamain died in that pool. Probably?

Did Palumbo do the John is a jewel thief story? That was awful lol. It had continuity errors from his own recent story the Tale of 2 Romans. I don't think tying John to the Alamains was that bad of an idea, but the show didn't do a lot to solidify the Alamains long term. Once Lawrence was out, John only had Vivian and that wasn't really dramatic. I think every writer salivates at the fact John has such a blank past and wants to write their own story so none of it makes sense. They should really have made John Roman's twin that Stefano kidnapped due to a Brady past vendetta that made sense back in the early 90's.

Thanks! I wasn't sure if she ever followed up with Tripp. Not that she has to, but he's probably thinking she feels one way and doesn't lol. But that kinda sums up their entire relationship.

Agree. They based the whole thing on a before and after photo. Everyone should be embarrassed. I think everyone just liked John better and went with it. Including Marlena lol. I think it's obvious she liked some physical differences. It's sorta funny that you think Stefano made him practice to have sex with Marlena. If I am going to go even further into all this-why did Stefano even make John faux Ro? What was his point? Especially after he kidnapped Marlena as well? Was there an end goal he was looking for like John to turn on all the Brady's at some point? Or was it just for like shits and giggles? Have they ever even tried to explain it? As far as Eric he got kicked out of the priesthood for Kristen seducing him. I don't even want to talk about it. He always got in a drunk driving accident and killed Daniel among the other lesser sins. I honestly didn't even hear his excuse about why he went back recently.

I strangely admire his commitment to thinking his live version is going to be as good as his weirdly edited track with background vocals. I honestly think TR is aggressively touching Finola's hand to remind one another they can't burst out laughing in this scene. I don't know anything about Conner or the actor, but was singing the actor's main career?

I think Kristen's view of religion was just so strong at that time (and completely abandoned post-Possession lol) that Marlena's "I support you no matter what" attitude came off more natural. I just always thought she was okay with it and maybe pro/pushing is too strong of a word, but she wasn't against it and didn't want him to turn his back on it necessarily. So do you think Marlena realized if John was a priest brainwashed out of the seminary that meant John was probably a virgin when she met him and she was embarrassed she couldn't tell the difference between him and Roman? Lol. I know it's completely retconned out of existence now, but at the time.. I don't think JER ever left his vision of John/Marlena even if I suspect the network and other PTB wanted John/Kristen more when ED first arrived, but JER was never going to truly let that happen. Aremid is where John/Marlena stuff becomes really clear, but I think the true turning point is when the devil starts using Marlena to actively seduce John. You truly get the idea that's the endgame couple Anyhow, Eric's priesthood journey confuses me more than John's. Eric can leave, have multiple relationships with women, have a child out of wedlock, and get married and DIVORCED, and just go back to being a CATHOLIC priest? I know women used to join convents after they were widowed, but I feel like Eric's life is not the same at all. Maybe they just keep him around in case an exorcism needs to get done.